“Violent man” or “man of his time”, a Barcelona museum debates Pablo Picasso’s relationship to women

He is certainly one of the greatest painters of all time. More than fifty years after his death, the image of Pablo Picasso is however tarnished by the #MeToo movement. The painter has often been depicted, for several years, as a man who was misogynistic, aggressive, perverse or even violent.

In June 2021, feminists organized a demonstration in the heart of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, ​​to denounce “an artist who abuses women”.
In a podcast listened to by more than 250,000 people in France, Picasso is described as a violent, jealous and perverse man.

In an attempt to respond to criticism, the museum dedicated to him in Barcelona organized, during the week of May 7 to 14, a seminar on the painter’s relationship with women. Androula Michael, lecturer in contemporary art at the University of Picardie Jules Verne, was present at this seminar: “Picasso was of course an egocentric person, who was perhaps not an exemplary man as a husband or as a father.she believes. However, we have no proof to accuse him, to condemn him.”

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For Androula Michael, the critics against Pablo Picasso sometimes even fall into the error of anachronism. She takes the example of the painting “The Weeping Woman”, dating from 1937: “It’s not about a woman being abused. You have to know the context of 1937, with the civil war.”

“You have to rest the context each time before stating commonplaces.”

Androula Michael, lecturer in contemporary art

at franceinfo

Far from being a trial, the seminar on Picasso made it possible to engage in a contradictory and remote debate on the artist. For the director of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, ​​Emmanuel Guigon, the exhibition venue could not avoid a debate. “We are not here to create caricatures. The debate around Metoo is quite relevant.The director adds:That Picasso was violent with women, I don’t believe. That he was a man of his time, of the 18th century, Andalusian, no doubt very seductive, goes without saying.”

From now on, it will no doubt be increasingly difficult to organize exhibitions on Picasso without mentioning his private life. In Barcelona, ​​the museum has perhaps found the right method: debating annoying subjects, by multiplying the points of view.